was a towering influence on president obama, inspiration. if you look now at the screen, that is the one and only photograph of president obama and mandela together, happening the one time that manned -- that obama got to meet his hero as a young freshman senator, newly elected senator, and mandela was visiting washington. he had that meeting, that single photo, obama in silhouette. he wassident, back when senator obama, wrote a forward to a book by nelson mandela, and the words here give you a sense. by the way, the pictures right now, that is the president in the cell where nelson mandela spent 17 years in prison and in south africa, 17 of the 27 years that nelson mandela spent in prison. trip, the president visited south africa earlier this year. he had hoped to get a chance to have one last meeting with mandela. forela was no condition such a meeting. the president visited that cell, went out into the quarries where nelson mandela and the other prisoners were forced to do hard labor. it was clearly a very emotional visit for the presiden